WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has turned away an early look at a challenge by religious non-profit groups to the health care law’s birth control mandate.
Lawsuits filed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, Priests for Life and others are making their way through the courts. The justices on Monday declined to weigh in on them before any federal appeals court has reached a final decision.
The Obama administration has offered a compromise that seeks to create a buffer for religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service groups that oppose birth control. If they sign a form declaring their religious objection, their insurers or the health plan’s outside administrator would pay for birth control coverage.
The national director of Priests for Life, Father Frank Pavone, says a federal appeals court will still hear arguments in his group’s case on May 8. But he says, “No matter what any court says at any time, we will disobey this mandate. It is unjust, immoral, and intolerable.”
